Self Feeding Guide: Tips And Tricks Of Training Your Toddler

With babies, nothing comes easy;
every habit and every successful milestone is a result of someone’s effort. It
could be you, your nanny, your spouse, the siblings or even strangers.

These admirable traits you see in
a child out there – they are cultivated. That’s why we celebrate milestones.

There are some easily celebrated
milestones, especially those that are one-off or those that happen in a short
span; your baby’s first steps, successful potty training, first words and so
on. Apart from these, there’s sitting up, the first day in school, first
haircut and first whole night of sleep and the list goes on and on. It’s
amazing how this one milestone is hardly celebrated; the ability to self-feed.

It takes great effort for a child
to self- feed reliably. Self-feeding in children comes in phases, making it
take the longest time to train and also extremely rewarding for you and your
baby.

Here are step by step of teaching
your baby the independence. First, let me break-it down to age groups.

8 Months – 9 Months:

The baby learns to hold the
bottle on their own. Too early you think? Not really. Babies at this age are
already putting fingers in their mouth. The hands can hardly co-ordinate but
since they are mostly using non-spill bottles, this is the right time to start
training.

Start with very little quantity,
even 1ml will do. You will obviously get a little spill. Note that this is a
sensitive age and you need to pay lots of attention to reduce chances of
choking.

It’s important to confirm the
baby is comfortably sitting. Preferably on a high chair and with feeding gear.
This stability gives them the courage to lift the bottle back and forth. Keep
the baby company and cheer them along the way.

9 months – 12 months:

This is the preferable age for
introducing finger foods. Offer practice finger foods. For example; diced fruit
and cheese bites.

The baby also learns to reach out
and grab a spoon or a snack (commonly referred to as pincer grasp). At first,
the baby will grab food with their fist and may smear it all over their face
while trying to trace the mouth.

They will also put their whole
hand in the mouth before they learn to take control and use fingers instead.
They still can’t co-ordinate but encouraging them to continue helps to perfect
the art.

Let them hold the spoon and then
support by holding their hand. Gently and firmly guide the spoon to pick food
and take it to the mouth. In a while, they fasten their grip so you no longer
need to hold their hand. Allow baby to be in control, don’t be too quick to
help, he will never learn that way. Let him struggle a bit. Do this minimally
to avoid the baby getting frustrated.

12 months – 16 months:

At this point, the baby has
learnt to move a spoon or fork from the plate to the mouth and vice versa.
Their motor ability has greatly improved. Present them as many opportunities as
possible. Realize that this is a habit they will keep all their life and so you
want to set a good example.

This is a perfect time to assert
hygienic habits like washing hands, wiping their mouth after a meal and using
napkins.

After feeding the baby, leave a
little amount of food in their bowl and encourage the baby to pick the spoon
and feed. This works best if you are also eating so they can copy you as you
cheer them to do it.

Give room for messy feeding, do
not be overcautious about messing up, use feeding clothes, a high chair and an
easy to clean floor mat to help you concentrate on the feeding rather than the
mess. When you serve, let the baby play with the food. As they do so, they are
improving their motor skill.

16 months – 48 months:

As the baby matures, he or she
learns to eat neatly and decide when the food is tasty, hot, and cold. If they
are full, they just push the food away. Assert table manners for example;
sitting with the rest of the family at the dinner table and chewing while the
mouth is closed.

Finally, these tips will help:

·Pick eating
hours when the baby is active. Teaching your baby anything when she is sleepy
or grumpy will make you frustrated and your efforts will most certainly go to
waste.

·Be
consistent. Offer many opportunities preferably at every meal time to ensure
the baby associates self-feeding with meal-time.

·Make meal
times fun time, you can introduce play where you hold something up (finger
foods for example) and let the baby grab it from you. This helps build the
ability to concentrate and also enhances motor skills.

·Avoid using
sweet snacks to entice or apologize. Instead, use activities, like a game to
motivate so that the child does not associate normal meals with less regards as
compared to snacks.

·Help the
baby to focus by turning off the various distractions for example; music, TV
and stories.

·Make effort
to serve colorful food to make it attractive, ensure different textures as
well. This does not only entice the child but the more colorful the food is,
the more likely it is to be nutritious. Different textures also improve the
baby’s digestion.

·Respect the
baby’s cue of satisfaction. Don’t use force while feeding, instead, serve
nutritious meals and encourage the baby to eat, maybe by clapping for her after
finishing. If need be to feed again, clear the table and let the baby have a
break first then try again later.

·For
toddlers, ask them to help you prepare the food. They will be more willing to
eat food that they have helped to prepare as they have already owned it up.

·Appreciate
your baby’s preferences; ensure the meal has something he loves. Forcing the
baby to eat something they do not like makes them face meal time with a
negative attitude.

·Let the baby
experience a bit of hunger. Avoid lots of snacks between meals. It will
frustrate you for nothing.